Why does the Albanese Government treat Japan’s energy security as more important than our own?

On Wednesday, Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Kazuhiro Suzuki, will speak at the National Press Club.

The preview of the speech has all the usual diplomatic clichés, like “taking our mateship to new heights” and “sushi is as prevalent now in Australia as beef is in Japan”.

But this speech is an important opportunity to ask hard questions about the relationship between Australian and Japanese Governments, and why Japan seems to get a better deal out of the Albanese Government than many Australians do.

Just last month, for example, Resource Minister Madeleine King told Japanese businesses that her government “will not be doing anything that…jeopardises Japan’s energy security.”

This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. Ms King has  previously spoken about the “responsibility [that] Australia has to ensure energy security is maintained not only for Japan, but for our other important regional neighbours.”

That’s great for Japan, but how can Australian energy users get that kind of preferential treatment from our own government? How can we make Australia’s energy security as much of a priority for the Australian Resources Minister as Japan’s?

Meanwhile, unrestricted gas exports to Japan and other countries have tripled wholesale gas prices in eastern Australia and Western Australia.

Over the past five years, the Australian Government has allowed the export of enough gas to supply Australia for more than 20 years. In fact, each year, Australia exports 13 times more gas than Australia’s entire manufacturing industry uses.

Manufacturers like the Tomago aluminium smelter in NSW are struggling, yet Ms King maintains her “responsibility” is Japanese energy security.

Given the Australian Government’s prioritisation of Japan’s energy security over Australia, Ambassador Suzuki’s speech will hopefully cover Japanese energy policy in detail, since it is of such great concern to the Australian Government.

He might explain that the Japanese Government has a policy of importing more gas than it actually needs, and Australia sells its gas so cheaply that as a nation, they can on-sell the surplus at a profit. It does this not to keep Tokyo’s lights on, but to promote Japanese companies and to gain influence over neighbouring countries’ energy markets.

This is not a conspiracy theory. It is plainly stated, in English (so English-speaking nations are crystal-clear on intent), on Japanese Government websites, which might explain why former Labor minister Ed Husic is urging his own government to “stand up to Japan” and stop being “played off as mugs”.

While Japan has a long-term energy policy to promote its interests, Australia’s energy policy does the opposite.

Australia gives away resources for free. More than half of Australia’s gas exports pay no royalty and no petroleum tax.

Australia subsidises fossil fuel producers and major users, including Japanese coal and gas companies, to the tune of $15 billion per year.

Japan is a key beneficiary of these policies.

In particular, Japanese company Inpex exports gas out of Darwin and is part-owned by the Japanese Government. Over eight years, Inpex reported $21 billion in revenue, yet supplied zero gas to Australians, paid zero royalties, zero petroleum tax and zero corporate tax.

Huge benefits for Japan. Literally zilch for Australia.

The Japanese Government clearly pushes for its ownagenda in Australia. Japanese ambassadors push the Australian Government on gas exports and push state governments on coal exports.

You might think then that Australian diplomats in Tokyo would similarly push Japan to act in Australia’s interests – to pay more for Australian resources, to take serious climate action, to transition faster to renewables.

Sadly, this does not appear to be the case.

For example, look at the response of Australian diplomats to Japan’s decision to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown into the Pacific Ocean in 2023.

The release was opposed by important trade and diplomatic partners for Australia like China and many Pacific nations. While deemed safe by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Australia has no interest in risking the Pacific.

Instead of sticking up for Australia’s “Pacific family”, or even just diplomatically sitting on the fence, Australian Embassy staff instead chose to feed fish and chips from Fukushima to their own children and posted the video to social media to promote Japan’s policy.

I am not making this up.

People can be mates. But governments are not mates. Governments are there to serve the interests of the people that elected them.

The Japanese Government seems to understand this perfectly. The Australian Government, it seems, not so much – perhaps to their own electoral peril.